Iran executes Sufi man over deadly Tehran bus-ramming

Death sentence widely criticised, with many saying that 51-year-old Mohammad Salas did not receive a fair trial.

18 Jun 2018 11:29 GMT

The official website of Iran’s judiciary said Mohammad Salas was hanged early on June 18 [Amnesty International]

A member of a Sufi order has been hanged in Iran over a bus-ramming incident that killed three police officers and two security force members during protests in February in Tehran.

The man, identified by the Tasnim news agency as Mohammad Salas, received the death sentence in March and was executed at a "correction facility" on Monday.

Salas is a member of the Gonabadi Dervish group, which has been protesting in the Iranian capital against alleged religious repression by the government, and the reported threat of arrest of its leader, the 90-year-old Noor Ali Tabandeh.

Salas reportedly drove the bus that ran over the officers, as they tried to contain the protests in the Pasdaran district of Tehran.

At least 30 other police officers were injured in the incident, according to Tasnim.

The incident in February was partly captured on video and circulated widely online.

⚡Iranian Dervish community of Gonabad clash with police in northern Tehran, near their spiritual leader's house